# 1998–99 Valencia CF season

Valencia CF had a successful season, finishing in the top four of La Liga, and thus qualifying for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in almost thirty years, thanks to the extension of the competition to include more teams from the top leagues. Valencia also won the Copa del Rey, ending a long trophy drought and marking a successful end to Italian coach Claudio Ranieri's first spell at the club. Among the main players behind the success included Gaizka Mendieta, Javier Farinós and lethal striker Claudio López.
At the end of the season, Ranieri left to manage Atlético Madrid; he was replaced by Argentine Héctor Cúper, who had led Mallorca to third place and the Cup Winners' Cup final.

## Squad

    Squad at end of season
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | ESP | Santiago Cañizares |
| 2 | DF | ESP | Javi Navarro |
| 3 | DF | ESP | Juanfran |
| 4 | DF | ESP | Paco Camarasa |
| 5 | DF | SRB | Miroslav Đukić |
| 6 | MF | ESP | Gaizka Mendieta |
| 7 | FW | ARG | Claudio López |
| 8 | MF | ESP | Javier Farinós |
| 9 | FW | ITA | Cristiano Lucarelli |
| 10 | MF | SWE | Stefan Schwarz |
| 11 | FW | ROU | Adrian Ilie |
| 12 | FW | ARG | Guillermo Morigi |
| 13 | GK | ESP | Jorge Bartual |
| 14 | DF | SWE | Joachim Björklund |
| 15 | DF | ITA | Amedeo Carboni |
| 16 | DF | FRA | Alain Roche |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 17 | DF | ROU | Sabin Ilie |
| 18 | MF | ROU | Gabriel Popescu |
| 19 | FW | CRO | Goran Vlaović |
| 20 | DF | FRA | Jocelyn Angloma |
| 21 | MF | ESP | Luis Milla |
| 22 | MF | ROU | Dennis Şerban |
| 23 | MF | ESP | Angulo |
| 24 | MF | ESP | Oscar Tellez |
| 25 | DF | ESP | Miguel Ángel Soria |
| 26 | GK | ESP | Jonathan |
| 27 | MF | ESP | Curro Torres |
| 28 | MF | ESP | Porras |
| 29 | FW | ESP | Pérez |
| 30 | FW | ESP | Rubén Navarro |
| 31 | FW | ESP | Jandro |
| 32 | MF | ESP | Soto |

### Transfers

In :
| Pos. | Name | from |
| GK | Santiago Cañizares | Real Madrid |
| DF | Alain Roche | Paris Saint-Germain |
| DF | Joachim Björklund | Rangers |
| MF | Stefan Schwarz | Fiorentina |
| MF | Gabriel Popescu | Salamanca |
| FW | Cristiano Lucarelli | Atalanta |
| MF | Dennis Serban | Steaua București |
| DF | Oscar Tellez | Alavés |
| MF | Sabin Ilie | Kocaelispor |
Out :
| Pos. | Name | To | Type |
| GK | Andoni Zubizarreta | | retired |
| MF | Fernando | Wolverhampton | |
| FW | Ariel Ortega | Sampdoria | €2.60 million |
| DF | Fernando Cáceres | Celta Vigo | |
| GK | Gustavo Campagnuolo | San Lorenzo | |
| DF | Moussa Saib | Tottenham Hotspur | €4.00 million |
| MF | José del Solar | Beşiktaş | |
| MF | Gerard López | Alavés | loan |
| MF | Marcelinho Carioca | Corinthians | |
| MF | David Albelda | Villarreal | loan |
| DF | Oscar Tellez | Villarreal | loan |
| FW | Nicolás Olivera | Sevilla | |
| MF | Sabin Ilie | Lleida | loan |

### Left club during season

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 12 | MF | ARG | Guillermo Morigi (to Vélez Sársfield) |
| 17 | FW | ROU | Sabin Ilie (on loan to Lleida) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 24 | DF | ESP | Óscar Téllez (to Villarreal) |

## Competitions
### La Liga
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 2 | Real Madrid | 38 | 21 | 5 | 12 | 77 | 62 | +15 | 68 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 3 | Mallorca | 38 | 20 | 6 | 12 | 48 | 31 | +17 | 66 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round |
| 4 | Valencia | 38 | 19 | 8 | 11 | 63 | 39 | +24 | 65 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round |
| 5 | Celta Vigo | 38 | 17 | 13 | 8 | 69 | 41 | +28 | 64 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |
| 6 | Deportivo La Coruña | 38 | 17 | 12 | 9 | 55 | 43 | +12 | 63 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first round |

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A |
| Result | W | L | W | L | L | L | W | W | W | L | W | D | W | W | L | W | D | D | W | W | D | L | L | W | W | W | D | W | D | W | D | W | W | L | D | W | L | W |
| Position | 4 | 9 | 6 | 9 | 13 | 16 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 4 |

#### Top scorers

* Claudio López 21
* Adrian Ilie 11
* Angulo 8
* Gaizka Mendieta 7
* Stefan Schwarz 4

### Copa del Rey

Eightfinals

#### Final
### UEFA Intertoto Cup
#### Finals
### UEFA Cup
#### Second round
## Statistics
### Players statistics

| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | La Liga | La Liga | Copa del Rey | Copa del Rey | UEFA Cup | UEFA Cup |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | ESP | Cañizares | 48 | -51 | 38 | -39 | 6 | -7 | 4 | -5 |
| 20 | DF | FRA | Angloma | 36 | 2 | 22+7 | 1 | 5+1 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 16 | DF | FRA | Roche | 37 | 3 | 25+4 | 0 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 5 | DF | SRB | Djukic | 41 | 1 | 32 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 15 | DF | ITA | Carboni | 46 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 6 | MF | ESP | Mendieta | 48 | 12 | 36+1 | 7 | 6+1 | 5 | 4 | 0 |
| 8 | MF | ESP | Farinos | 41 | 2 | 28+4 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | ESP | Luis Milla | 39 | 1 | 28+3 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 23 | FW | ESP | Angulo | 46 | 12 | 31+5 | 8 | 5+1 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| 11 | FW | ROU | Ilie | 32 | 12 | 22+2 | 10 | 2+2 | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| 7 | FW | ARG | Claudio López | 42 | 32 | 31+1 | 21 | 5+1 | 8 | 4 | 3 |
| 13 | GK | ESP | Bartual | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | SWE | Schwarz | 33 | 4 | 22+8 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 14 | DF | SWE | Bjorklund | 33 | 1 | 23+1 | 1 | 4+1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | ESP | Juanfran | 27 | 0 | 15+6 | 0 | 3+2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 18 | MF | ROU | Popescu | 35 | 1 | 5+20 | 1 | 2+4 | 0 | 3+1 | 0 |
| 19 | FW | CRO | Vlaovic | 23 | 3 | 11+9 | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| 25 | DF | ESP | Soria | 17 | 0 | 6+4 | 0 | 2+3 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | ITA | Lucarelli | 15 | 1 | 4+8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 |
| 22 | MF | ROU | Serban | 10 | 1 | 0+10 | 1 |
| 4 | DF | ESP | Camarasa | 5 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 30 | FW | ESP | Navarro | 6 | 2 | 0+4 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 31 | FW | ESP | Jandro | 4 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | ESP | Navarro | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | MF | ARG | Morigi |
| 17 | DF | ROU | Ilie | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | DF | ESP | Tellez | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 26 | GK | ESP | Jonathan |
| 27 | DF | ESP | Curro Torres | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 28 | MF | ESP | Porras |
| 29 | DF | ESP | Perez |
| 32 | MF | ESP | Soto |
* Source: